Carleton Place Canadians Just Miss Out on Another RBC Cup Appearance

For the first time in four years, the Carleton Place Canadians will not
be participating in the national RBC Cup tournament, after losing
Sunday's championship final in the Fred Page Cup. (Robert
Lefebvre/IceLevel)

That’s because the Central Canada Hockey League franchise just missed
out on once again qualifying for the RBC Cup, the national Junior A
championship.

The Canadians have captured the CCHL title in each of the past four
years. And during the previous three seasons, the Carleton Place squad
also ended up winning the Fred Page Cup, a regional qualifying tourney,
thus earning a berth into the nationals.
But the Canadians’ quest for a fourth consecutive appearance at the RBC Cup came to an end on Sunday in La Belle Province.
Carleton Place was downed 5-2 by the host Terrebonne Cobras of the
Quebec Junior Hockey League in the championship final of this year’s
Fred Page Cup. With that win the Cobras advanced to the RBC Cup, which
is scheduled to kick off this coming Saturday in Cobourg, Ont.
Sunday’s contest versus the Cobras was much closer than the three-goal
margin of victory indicates. Terrebonne scored the winning goal in the
12th minute of the third period on a powerplay. The Cobras added a pair
of empty-net goals in the final two minutes of the match.
“Our kids played really hard,” said Canadians head coach/GM Jason
Clarke. “And I think we did a good job going into third period tied at
2-2.”
The Carleton Place side can be forgiven for running out of gas in the
final 20 minutes. After all, the Canadians were playing their fifth game
in as many days at the tournament.
The Cobras, who won all three of their round-robin matches at the
tourney, earned a spot into the finals and had the luxury of a day off
before the championship contest.
Carleton Place had to take the long route into finals, by playing a
semifinal game on Saturday, since they got off to a disappointing
tournament start. The Canadians lost their first two round-robin games,
both in a shootout.
“Our team has always bounced back after stuff like that,” Clarke said.
Carleton Place did defeat the Maritime Hockey League champion Truro
Bearcats 3-1 in its final round-robin tilt. And the Canadians then
blanked the QJHL finalists from Longueuil 2-0 in their semifinal battle.
But instead of packing their bags for the eight-day national tournament
in Cobourg, the Canadians now turn their thoughts to the 2017-18
campaign.
This will be a year in which there will be plenty of talk of whether the
Carleton Place organization can win a fifth straight CCHL title.
It’s not an unprecedented feat though as the Pembroke Lumber Kings won five consecutive league crowns from 2007 through 2011.
Since some players have used up their junior eligibility and others are
moving up to higher levels, the Canadians can expect perhaps only about
half of their roster back next season.
“That’s junior hockey,” Clarke said. “We’ve always had the motto in our organization we don’t rebuild, we reload.”

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